Call to Arms

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: John Ellingson <JohnE37179 () aol com>

This last year 28,000 branch banks in America used our technology to
screen approximately 18 million new bank account openings for identity
fraud. Our technology flagged 4.2% of those applications as using
compromised identities, identities that had been intentionally
manipulated for the purpose of deception. The manipulation was by
either the applicant or a third party who had stolen the identity.
This rate of manipulated identities is 175% higher than in 1996.

This means that out of those 18 million identities over 750,000 had
been intentionally compromised. Those same identities were used to
obtain drivers licenses, credit cards, and airline tickets.

As the Third Annual Report to The President and The Congress of The
Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism
Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction set out as the number one
general recommendation: Better use of technology for positive
identification and for knowledge management should be at the top of
the list.

As we move into 2002, I would urge everyone and every company that has
capabilities that can address this risk to pool their resources to
create and deploy a system to close this immense hole in our security
infrastructure.  The hole needs to be closed in a number of areas.
Airport and other public facilities need this capability, our economic
infrastructure needs this capability, our communications system needs
this capability. We cannot afford to continue to use the approach we
have used all along. We must recognize the new paradigm of the
supremacy of identity certainty.

This means that we must precede all authentication efforts with
identification certainty. In all of the areas of vulnerability
mentioned above, the users are predominantly strangers and
authentication without identification first is not possible.

We must combine strong identification technology with strong
authentication technology and our vast information resources. This
will require a combination of a number of point solutions and strong
integration and information management. It will require reassessing
how we protect our assets and our lives. It must be able to address
all types and levels of threats, from cyber attacks, chemical and
biologic attacks, financial attacks and the physical threats to
transportation, power, communication, and commercial infrastructures.

We have all of the technologies required to meet these threats today.
What those of us in the industry must do is come together to provide
the integrated solution. Let’s all make this our number one New
Year's resolution. To that end, Edentification will contribute to
any consortia addressing this need, free of cost, our completed
engineering for a biometric and web-enabled identity clearinghouse. I
urge others to join us in making similar contributions to meet this
common and important goal.

John Ellingson
CEO Edentification, Inc.
608-833-6261
ellingson () e-dentification com



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